Women’s water polo readies for coming season

Courtesy of Athletics
Kira O’Donell, sophomore behavioral science major, looks to pass the ball to her teammates during a game against the Fresno State University Bulldogs. The Lancers finished the 2018 season with a 17-17 overall record.

California Baptist University’s women’s water polo team is determined to reach the Western Athletic Conference championship this year through meticulous preparation for the upcoming season.

Although official matches have not started yet, the athletes are working to lay the groundwork in preparation for a successful season.

The team is looking to qual- ify for the conference champi- onship game and win a title, a goal they fell short of last year because of a few close games.

This year, all of CBU’s athletic teams, except for the water polo teams, made the move to the NCAA Division I conferences. Luckily for the women’s water polo team, they have been exposed to this competitive are- na because of its DI conference affiliation since 2014.

Jonathan Miller, head coach of women’s water polo, shared his aspirations for this year’s Lancers as the season approaches.

“Our biggest goal for this season is to be in the confer- ence championship game at the end of the year and be able to win a title,” Miller said. “We had a couple of one-goal losses last season that prevented us from doing that but we were able to learn from those experiences and will be able to turn those around this year.”

Kyra Foley, sophomore undeclared major and goalie, said the team has been training hard in practice.

“We are in the pool and weight room where we do workouts that help us bond and learn how to work together as a team,” Foley said. “Along with workouts we do team devotionals. This helps us to mentally prepare and get our mind in the right space for when we start playing games.”

Pua Wong, senior biology major and utility player, said the team plans to achieve these goals through their relationship.

“To accomplish this, we make sure we are real with each other,” Wong said. “We need to have a good relationship with one another so that we can com- fortably work hard and push each other to be better than ever.”

Miller said accountability in and out of the pool is a foun- dational aspect that drives the team toward giving 100 percent in both practices and games during its pre-season.

“Everybody is willing to find their role and contribute how- ever they can but ultimately they all want the team to be suc- cessful,” Miller said. “We have a lot of talented players and the fact they all sincerely want to see their teammates succeed creates a team that is very hard to beat.”

This determination and team accountability is the force that drives CBU’s women’s water polo team as it gears up for their season this spring.

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